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Joanna’s Boutique

For me, it’s all about color. And texture. I mean softness. I like my colors clear, bright, saturated. Even pastels. And I like yarns soft and airy.

Dyeing roving, spinning it and knitting is about playing with the things I love. Selling what I made is just logical next step. After all how much knitted stuff one person can have? And I can play with the colors I love and never would wear.
And as I am selling my stuff I get to do my second favorite thing: connect and talk to the people who love the same thing as I do. Life is great.

Knowing what I like determinates my choices of dyes (Jacquard and Dharma) and roving. BFL has not only long staple length (added bonus) softness but it also has luster and takes dyes beautifully. Add to it some silk and it becomes heavenly. Even more soft, easier to draft and since silk is taking dyes a little different than wool there is added depth to the color.

Third base I am using is little less known. It’s 50% merino with 25% silk and 25% bamboo. Bamboo does not take acid dyes and in the roving looks like whitish veins. It disappears in spinning, just makes yarn a little lighter. But it adds great qualities to the yarn. Both silk and bamboo have long staple length which makes roving easy to spin and very soft. I would not use yarn made from it for hard working items like gloves or socks, but it’s just great for next to your neck and face items. It makes a great low twist, single ply yarn. And thanks to bamboo drapes well.